US, China Are ‘Talking Past Each Other,’ Says US Lawmaker
Congressional Delegation’s Visit to Beijing Comes Amid Tensions Over Trade, Tech
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BEIJING — The United States and China are “talking past each other” on key issues, according to a U.S. lawmaker leading a bipartisan congressional delegation visiting Beijing on Sept. 23 — the first visit from the House of Representatives to China since 2019.
Led by Rep. Adam Smith (D-Wash.), who serves on the House Armed Services Committee, the visit comes as tensions have risen between the two countries over trade, technology and opposing views on global conflicts.
The aim of the trip, Smith said, is to increase dialogue between the two sides.
“You have to be willing to start the process of saying, ‘OK, this is where I’m coming from, where are you coming from?’ And we’re not even at that point yet. We’re still sort of talking past each other,” Smith said Sept. 23.
. Ranking Member , leading a bipartisan congressional delegation to the People's Republic of China, had a productive dialogue with LI Qiang, the Premier of the State Council People's Republic of China, on the delegation's first day.
The delegation,… — House Armed Services Democrats (@HASCDemocrats)
The U.S. delegation said it hoped China would take meaningful action to reduce the inflow of fentanyl into the U.S. and they expressed concern over China’s restrictions on the global supply of rare earths, according to a readout from the House Armed Services Committee on Sept. 22.
Smith also said Sept. 23 he is concerned that the U.S. and Chinese militaries are coming too close to each other operationally, and that he wants the Chinese side to engage in more dialogue.
“We’ve seen this with our ships and our planes, their ships, their planes, coming entirely too close to one another,” he told reporters. “At the height of the Cold War, we had regular conversations, regular treaties with the Soviet Union.”
In October 2023, the U.S. military said that a Chinese fighter jet came within 10 feet of an American bomber over the South China Sea.
Chinese vice prime minister He Lifeng in July. (Fredrik Sandberg/TT News Agency via AP)
Smith added he hoped for more engagement overall with Beijing.
“Many things that seemed intractable and impossible — once you actually start talking from the standpoint of ‘Let’s try and resolve this’ — it is unbelievable what you can accomplish,” he said.
Smith and Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi struck a warmer tone during a meeting later Sept. 23, with Wang telling Smith that China’s door was always open to him.
Smith said he saw room for cooperation between the U.S. and China on issues such as combating poverty and public health crises.
“There are many things that we can work together on because the capabilities of China, the capabilities of the U.S. are the greatest in the world,” Smith said. “If we work together, there’s no end of the things that we can accomplish.”
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Since arriving on Sept. 21, the delegation met with several top Chinese officials, including Premier Li Qiang, Defense Minister Dong Jun, Vice Premier He Lifeng and National People’s Congress Chairman Zhao Leji.
The U.S. and Chinese militaries suspended communications with each other for over a year starting in August 2022, following a visit by then-U.S. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi to Taiwan. The visit angered Beijing, which claims self-ruled Taiwan as its own territory, to be annexed by force if necessary.
A group of U.S. senators visited Beijing in 2023.
China and the U.S. restored military dialogue in November 2023 after a rare meeting between Chinese President Xi Jinping and then-U.S. President Joe Biden.
But it is unclear how regularly the two militaries have communicated with each other and Smith did not address the frequency in response to reporters’ questions on Sept. 23.
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President Donald Trump said he would meet with Xi at a regional summit in South Korea in late October and visit China in the “early part of next year,” following a lengthy phone call between the two on Sept. 19.
The congressional delegation to China also includes Reps. Michael Baumgartner (R-Wash.), Ro Khanna (D-Calif.) and Chrissy Houlahan (D-Pa.),
Baumgartner serves on the House Foreign Affairs Committee; Khanna and Houlahan are on the House Armed Services Committee. The lawmakers are in China until Sept. 25.
